Minimizing and Simplifying

We have been hard at work the past six months or so clearing out unused/outgrown items from our apartment!  It has been a lot of work, and we still have a ways to go, but the results have been great so far!

I suffer from anxiety and, for me, clutter is a huge trigger.  There is nothing worse than feeling claustrophobic in your own residence!  Since having kids the amount of stuff that we have has grown exponentially.  The clothes, the toys, the gear etc.  So much stuff!  

Since last fall I have been putting in some extra effort to de-clutter unused/outgrown items.  Each and every diaper/wipe box that enters our home leaves full of donation items or items to store at my mom's house for a multi-family garage sale in the spring.  You'd be surprised how quickly a diaper box can fill up!

Late last November I decided to join a Facebook garage sale group to make a little money off of items that would otherwise be donated.  To date, we have made $321 selling clothing, toys and household items!  It takes a little effort and time but so far it's been worth it! 

I struggled with whether or not to involve the kids, specifically Amelia, in our de-cluttering.  In the end I decided it was best to include her and we began slowly.  I asked her if there were any toys in her room that she didn't play with anymore.  She found a couple and I asked her if we could pass them on to someone else.  She declined and I let it be.  Over time she saw me filling up diaper boxes and eventually came to me one day and said, "Mom, I have some toys I don't use anymore that I want to pass on.  Can you help me?"  Success.

Why are we doing all this?  To create a "manageable mess" as Rachel put it!  

In the not so distant past there were times when our kids made messes that were so insane and overwhelming that we would be left wondering where they even found all that stuff to take out.  We'd get frustrated at them and it created such a negative environment for us all.  Something had to change!

How are we doing this?  I'm trying my best to follow the "one in, one out" rule, especially with toys!  I am also trying very hard to be intentional in my purchases.  I work at Target and it is easy to get caught up in the "deals" that we run into as we re-do aisle after aisle of the store.  That's my job, clearing out the old to make way for the new.  I see a lot of "deals" every day!  I'm learning to just say NO!

As far as deciding what stays and what goes - I just try to look at an item objectively.  Is it being used?  Is it something we love?  Will we use it in the future?  If the answers are "no" then it's time to pass that item on to someone who can get use out of it.  It's not doing anyone any good sitting in our closet!  I'm not against saving things but everything does not need to be saved!  

Now for a visual, this mess...

...is a manageable mess!  Yes, everything is out but it all goes in either the purple bin or the closet!  By simplifying their toys we were also able to simplify the play-with-every-day toys' storage which makes picking up much easier for them!  They are learning that there is a place for everything and when we pick up everything goes in it's place!

Bottom line:  Less stuff = less mess = less stress!

Amelia and Joe's "Big Kid" Room

With less than two months until #3 arrives we have finally transitioned Joe into Amelia's room!  Back in May we were generously given bunk beds by a co-worker of mine - all we needed were mattresses!  Once the mattresses, which were back-ordered, arrived we got the bunk beds all set up.  

Once they were up and ready to go we had Joe sleep in there a few times on the weekends (when we are both home) to get used to it.  Two weekends ago he spent two nights in a row in there and he hasn't looked back since!  When it is bedtime, he runs in there are crawls up into his bed.  For the most part the transition has been a piece of cake.  The biggest struggle is getting Amelia to understand that if Joe gets up and starts playing, she just needs to let him be and not yell at him to get back into bed.  Chaos tends to break out in there once she gets into her authoritative mood ;)

Here is a photo tour of the new "big kids" room in our apartment!

View from the doorway

Looking from the doorway

I managed to minimize clothing enough to fit both kids' clothing into Amelia's dresser!  A lot of things, in both of their dressers, no longer fit them and I just needed that "push" to sort through it all and get it organized for the fall!  One thing that I did that helped free up some space was to hang up their sweatshirts in the closet.  Without all that bulk folded up and in the drawers I made a ton of room!

The only thing I am not crazy about is the television.  Around 16 or 18-months old Amelia decided that she no longer was going to nap.  That was all fine and dandy until I got pregnant with her brother.  I work early morning hours and a nap was just necessary for me so Jason started putting her into her crib with a movie.  It bought me enough time to get showered and sneak in some rest that I was desperate for.  Well, it stuck.  She now watches a movie at bedtime each and every night.  I realize there are worse things but for some reason the TV in her (now their) room has just always nagged at me.  I think I just always envisioned us reading before bed and that being that.  I have done an ok job of getting reading time in before the movie is picked out, let alone turned on, so I guess it's a win-win in the end!

Joe still takes his afternoon nap in the crib in baby's room but other than that I have been able to start getting things ready in there!  In all honesty, there really isn't all that much to do but it makes me feel better knowing that the little things I can do to prepare are getting done :)  For example, the dresser drawers are now filled with freshly laundered newborn and 3-month clothing!  I still can't believe we are so close to becoming a family of five!

Simplified Kitchen

A read a blog called "Intentionally Simple" and for the month of October Rachel is doing "31 Days to Living Intentionally Simple."  I'm following along and working on the projects she posts each day!

The first four days of October were dedicated to the kitchen.  This week I have gone through every cabinet (except the spice cabinet...that one is Jason's and I am hands off in there!) and every drawer.  I eliminated so many things from our kitchen that we just don't use/need.  We use the same pots and pans over and over but we had a few "spare" ones included in our collection - they went!  In the silverware drawer there were 23 plastic utensil sets (you know, the ones you get with your take-out) that we were saving, I assume, for that one day when we would need them.  That day has never come since we both bring actual silverware in our lunch bags to work with us - so into the trash they went!

With all the space I was able to make in the cabinets and drawers I was also able to move our flour and sugar containers underneath into a cabinet.  I realized they were just taking up valuable space and I honestly haven't used flour since we've lived here - except the one time a neighbor asked to borrow a cup a few weeks ago.  To me, that indicates very little need for it to be taking up space on the already crowded counter-top!

I cleared off the top of the refrigerator as well as cleaning it out of questionable food items.  I went through the pantry and got it all cleaned out very thoroughly and organized.  I went through all the things we had up on our refrigerator with magnets and decided it was time for a lot of it to come down. 

I was a machine this week in the kitchen.  The best part?  With it being broken up into several days of smaller tasks it was much easier to achieve this goal and having others participating kept me motivated!

Our simplified kitchen

The next room to be worked on this month is the master bedroom!